By Peter Della Penna in Winnipeg, Manitoba
Canada U-15 off-spinner Gayan Ferdinands derailed USA’s chase with a five-wicket haul to lead his side to a 25-run win on Thursday in the 2011 ICC Americas U-15 Northern Division Tournament at Assiniboine Park in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Ferdinands was named Man of the Match after wrecking USA’s middle order with 5 for 36 in eight overs including two maidens. The win takes Canada to 2-1 while USA finishes the tournament at 2-2.

Canada won the toss and elected to bat first on a perfect morning with a gentle breeze blowing down the ground from the south instead of across the pitch from the east as had been the case on Wednesday. As a result, both teams bowled with much better control on the day. Harsh Thakar was the first player to go, caught behind after edging a half-hearted drive to Gordon Makin off the bowling of Dave Parikh for 2 to make it 5 for 1 in the third over.

Unlike on Monday when Canada wilted for 63 all out against USA, the host’s batting lineup showed tremendous patience and focus as Kurt Ramdath and Bradley Dickson eased their way to a 70-run second wicket partnership. The pair were never really threatened by USA’s bowlers while Ramdath showed good sense in going for big shots with the wind at his back, hitting six fours and a massive six straight down the ground. He was finally caught for 43 pulling a half-tracker from leg-spinner Mihir Athavale to Rohit Mogalayapalli at deep midwicket.

Dickson ran himself out for 25 two runs later when he drove a full delivery from Anirudha Srinivas to Karanjit Singh at point and took off when there was no run to be had. Ferdinands departed for 12 in similar fashion after building a promising 36-run stand with Canada U-15 captain Prushoth Senathirajah. Ferdinands drove Singh to point where Sagar Patel was fielding. Senathirajah took off while Ferdinands stayed put. Patel threw to the wrong end where Makin collected and faked a throw to the bowler as Senathirajah was making his way back. The fake was enough to lure Ferdinands out of his crease and Makin whipped off the bails to make it 113 for 4 in the 29th over. Senathirajah was then bowled by Vibhav Altekar for 33 to make it 129 for 5 in the 32nd.

Abrash Khan was joined at the crease by Miraj Patel and just as they did two days before against Bermuda, the pair took Canada to a winning position with a solid partnership. Patel finally left for 17 when he drove into the wind against Parikh and was caught at cover by Mogalyapalli to make it 164 for 6 after 37 overs. Manula Adihetly was run out without facing a ball on the first ball of the 38th after Khan tried to stretch a single into two as Singh fired a direct hit at the non-striker’s end running in from the long off boundary. Khan continued on until the last over when he spooned a simple catch to Athavale at cover off the bowling of Singh to make it 180 for 8. Sarbjot Singh was caught for a duck two balls later and a single was taken off the last ball by Amrinder Atwal as Canada finished 181 for 9 in 40 overs. A day after giving up 42 extras in the field, USA only conceded 13 against Canada.

USA’s chase got off to an excellent start as Singh and Jason Gobin produced the highest first wicket partnership of the tournament with 49 runs. Each player looked comfortable against the pace bowling of Canada, but problems started to develop once spin was introduced. Singh eventually fell for 21 when he edged an attempted back foot drive to first slip off Ramdath’s left-arm spin. Neil Tagare fell four balls later for a duck to end the 14th over when he mistimed a pull off a short delivery from Ramdath and gave a simple catch to Cooper Hart at square leg to make it 49 for 2.

Gobin’s strike rate slowed considerably once leg-spinner Adihetly began to bowl in tandem with Ramdath. Gobin had a string of 11 straight dot balls between the 16th and 19th overs and before long, frustration got the best of him as he tried to come down the track to drive Adihetly but never got to the pitch of the ball and was stumped for 28 in the 21st over to make it 63 for 3.

USA had been scoring at three runs per over, but with Altekar and Parikh now at the crease USA scored at better than six per over for the next 10 overs. The pair added 66 for the fourth wicket and seemed to have USA on course for victory until Ferdinands came on for a third spell from the southern end. Ferdinands had given up 28 runs in three overs bowled from the northern end as he struggled to flight the ball into the wind.

Now bowling from the southern end, USA continued to target him, disregarding the fact that he was now bowling with the wind at his back and the batsmen would be hitting into a stiff breeze. The ploy worked brilliantly as he struck with his second ball in the 31st over when Altekar tried to clear Hart at mid on by driving into the wind and a simple catch was taken inside the circle to get rid of the batsman for 48. Parikh crossed with the ball in the air and on the very next ball he edged a drive to Senathirajah at slip to leave for 17 as USA’s collapse began to take shape at 129 for 5.

Two overs later, Makin tried to pull a short ball into the wind and was caught at midwicket in the circle for 1 to make it 130 for 6. In the 34th, Mogalayapalli was run out for 5 when Sagar Patel hit a delivery from Adihetly into the covers and took off before changing his mind, only to leave Mogalayapalli stranded halfway down the pitch. Thakar fielded and threw to Adihetly over the stumps with Mogalayapalli three yards short to make it 136 for 7.

Patel repeated Altekar’s mistake in the 37th when he slogged a full delivery from Ferdinands into the wind to give Hart another easy catch at mid on for 10 as USA slumped to 145 for 8. Ferdinands completed his five-wicket haul when Athavale went for another slog into the wind as Hart took his fourth catch of the day to make it 155 for 9 in the 39th. Ferdinands’ remarkable five-over spell ended with 5 wickets for 8 runs and effectively sealed the match for Canada.

Khan took the only wicket by a pace bowler for Canada in the final over to end the match when he had Rutvij Bhise caught down the leg side by the keeper Singh and USA was bowled out for 156 with two balls remaining. Canada conceded their fewest amount of extras this tournament with 15 during the innings.

Canada takes on Bermuda in the final match of the tournament on Friday. A win will make them the undisputed tournament champions while USA would finish second and Bermuda third. A win by Bermuda would create a three-way tie at 2-2 with net run rate deciding the winner in which case USA would most likely finish in first place. USA’s run rate is currently +0.650, Canada’s at -0.109 and Bermuda’s at -0.759. If Canada loses, they cannot finish in first place. In order for Bermuda to finish in first place ahead of USA, they must bat first and score a minimum of 242 runs while also bowling out Canada for 46 runs or less, a highly improbable scenario. Friday’s match between Bermuda and Canada is scheduled for a 10:30 a.m. start at Assiniboine Park